Barely few weeks that Medview Airlines announced its readiness to commence flight operations to West and Central Africa, as well as to Dubai, the European Commission has barred Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, from operating into European airspace for safety reasons.
A total of 181 airlines were barred from flying into Europe. 174 airlines were barred due to safety oversight by aviation authorities in their home countries.
All carriers from Mozambique and Republic of Benin have been removed from the list of airlines banned.
Medview was one of seven airlines barred due to safety conditions with the airlines and its yet to issue an official statement concerning the ban, but a Director in the airline, Alhaji Ishaq Na’ Allah said that the UK Civil Aviation requested the airline stop flying its B767 and has advised it to lease another aircraft.
He said they are working to resolve the issue while the UK authorities are due in Nigeria to carry out safety audit on the airline.
He did not however disclose when the airline would be back in service to London.
The airline, being one of the two flag carriers of Nigeria, was “Listed by Introduction” on the Nigerian Stock Exchange [NSE] on January 31, 2017, and was the first airline to list its shares on the stock exchange in the last 10 years.
This development is a pointer to the fact that all the private operators in Nigeria lack the capacity to serve 180 million Nigerians; hence the call for a national carrier.
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